i'm sorry i haven't been able to post in a long time, but i wasn't able to access a computer while i was in el mina. but i am back in accra now, and begin the internship on monday.
the first art village that we went to is famous for weaving kente cloth. we were lead into a barn like structure and given a demonstration by one of the master weavers. the kente cloth, depending on the weave, takes days or weeks to create. it comes in single, double and triple weave, triple being the most expensive and longest to make. each design on every cloth has a meaning and when different meanings are put together on one cloth, the meaning deepens and develops into something else. its so cool that beautiful cloth has such important meaning to the culture.
the next village that we went to is known for the stamping of adinkra symbols on kente cloth. there are hundreds of adinkra symbols and each one has a specific meaning. everyone in the culture (the asante people) knows the meaning of each symbol. at this village we saw how the bark of a tree was boiled and beaten into a paste to be used for the ink. then we saw an example of how the cloth is stamped. all is done by hand. at this village, a little boy showed me how to weave the kente cloth and gave me a kente head band. its really funny, the people of ghana are obsessed with obama, and there were stamps of his face next to the adinkra symbols on some of the kente cloth.
finally, we went to a carving village. we didn't spend much time there or get to see any master carvers at work. i did pick up a mask for really cheap; kumasi markets are cheaper and their goods of better quality than those in accra.
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